Sniper School Instructor: This Is My Job

Three shots from 75 ft. away was what it took to take a hostage situation to a halt on Sunday, April 12. Pirates held Captain Richard Phillips at gunpoint and the commander of the USS Bainbridge made the call for three U.S. Navy SEALs to pull the trigger. All three hit their targets in the dark on the rolling seas. How did they do it? Staff Sgt. David Mitnaul knows that it's no easy task. Mitnaul trains infrantrymen in marksmanship at the U.S. Army Sniper School. Here is an inside look at sniper tech and training.

Hitting a target six football fields away is no easy feat--even with 10x magnification--but it's David Mitnaul's job to make sure graduates of the U.S. Army Sniper School in Fort Benning, Ga., can do just that. A veteran of more than 100 missions, including operations in Baghdad, 22-year-old Staff Sgt. Mitnaul trains infantrymen in wind calculations, ballistics and marksmanship. The goal: 90 percent first-round hits at 2000 ft. But shooting is only one part of what Mitnaul teaches. "Most sniper missions are reconnaissance and surveillance," he says. "You very rarely pull a shot."